Protective vests or such protective pieces of clothing are intended to protect the wearer from the effects of projectiles and also in part from other mechanical effects. The area to be protected can be limited to the upper body (usually circular protection), or it can also include the lower torso, usually with limitation of mobility. The protective vest should not only prevent the pentration of the projectile but also avoid injuries which could be produced by a transfer of the impact of the pojectile to the body.
The consistency and mode of operation of bullet-proof vests are described in detail in the journal "Meilliand Textilberichte", 6/1981, pp. 463 to 468. A protective vest of the type involved in the present invention is described in the left column of page 464 in conjunction with FIG. 4. Accordingly, pure textile vests comprise a rather large number of superimposed textile fabrics, e.g., fabrics of aramide yarns, and a so-called shock absorber is located on the body side which can comprise, for example, foam, a needle fleece or a flat down padding. This shock absorber has the task of reducing the impact of the projectile striking into the textile layers and the shock waves emanating from the point of impact. In armored protective vests, an additional plate of hard material ("armor plate") is provided on the side facing away from the body which can usually be inserted into a pocket.
The shock absorber has the task of reducing a bulging of the textile layers in the direction of the effect of the projectile, i.e., in the direction of the human body. This deformation results in the so-called trauma effect, which is expressed in wounds to the skin and the musculature (surface skin abrasions, hemorrhages, bleeding, contusions, broken ribs, pulmonary contusions) and can in extreme cases result in death.
Other details concerning the subject "shock absorber" are contained in the article "Behaviour of Aramide Fabrics under Ballistic Action" in "Meillian Textilberichte", 3/1981, pp. 193 to 198, especially pp. 197 to 198.
The previously known shock absorbers, which should not increase the weight of the protective vest too much and not be to stiff in order to assure the textile character of the protective vest, allow impression depths under fire under standard conditions which are not able sufficiently to reduce the trauma effect. Thus, a shot in accordance with protective class I of the Technical Guideline "Protective Vest" of the German Police (as of June, 1983) with 9 mm para-soft core from an automatic pistol onto 26 layers of aramide fabric (normal construction) with a 12 mm thick foam plate results in an impression depth of more than 20 mm.